Worcester student shapes giant igloo

Tuesday

Feb 19, 2013 at 6:00 AMFeb 19, 2013 at 4:26 PM

It's the ultimate man cave, if you've got warm socks. Michael J. Kozlowski, 21, has been working since November on a fully functional igloo in his family's backyard on Pagnani Circle. The roughly 12-foot-high, 20-foot-diameter structure, dubbed “Club Ice,” features two rooms, cable TV, a couch and space for a beer pong table. If your fingers get cold, there's an electric hand warmer to warm them up.

By Susan Spencer TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It's the ultimate man cave, if you've got warm socks.

Michael J. Kozlowski, 21, a communication major at Worcester State University, has been working since November on a fully functional igloo in his family's backyard on Pagnani Circle.

The roughly 12-foot-high, 20-foot-diameter structure, dubbed “Club Ice,” features two rooms, cable TV, a couch and space for a beer pong table. If your fingers get cold, there's an electric hand warmer to warm them up.

Mr. Kozlowski plans to install a keg next weekend, but as with all home improvement projects, amenities can be added only as the budget allows.

“Mainly we use it for a party room, just a room to hang out,” Mr. Kozlowski said. “Everyone around here hates the winter. I try to show them the fun side.”

This rendition of Club Ice is Mr. Kozlowski's fourth igloo. Each year he has modified the design and moved the location to get the best shading.

“Whenever I see an issue every year, I try to improve on it in the next year,” he said.

For instance, this igloo features a center 4-by-4-inch post, 12 feet high, with an umbrella-like fan of plywood on top to keep the roof from sagging when the snow melts.

The annual icehouse projects stemmed from a micro ski and snowboard hill Mr. Kozlowski built in his backyard five years ago, complete with four “kickers,” jumps that pitch riders into the air enough to spin before touching down.

His mother, Rosanne Kozlowski, recalled that the ski hill's development was inspired by snowmaking equipment his father, Michael H. Kozlowski, purchased for him.

The younger Michael Kozlowski said that after finishing the ski hill, called Mount Pagnani, “All my skiing buddies left for Vermont. I thought, 'What else could I do with the snow gun?' ”

Mr. Kozlowski's onetime childhood dream of becoming an architect led him to try his hand at igloo design, a more complex venture requiring ample amounts of snow.

Before the heavy white stuff falls, and when he needs midseason replenishment, Mr. Kozlowski picks up snow dumped outside the Charles J. Buffone Skating Arena on Lake Avenue after the Zamboni truck grooms the rink.

And he runs his snowmaking machine late into the night, a task that requires constant attention so ice doesn't build up.

Mr. Kozlowski, his father and friends piled snow around the center beam and dug the igloo with hand shovels.

“It's a process. It's definitely like the caveman method,” he said. But forming snow bricks and laying them one at a time would be too time-consuming and “insane.”

Club Ice is expected to last until April, with occasional refurbishing with more snow around the walls and the constant tinkering of a do-it-yourselfer. He plans to turn the second room into a two-story section when he has the time.

Mr. Kozlowski said he'd like to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for building the largest dome igloo.

The current record was set in Austria in 2011 by a television crew, which built an igloo with an interior diameter of 39 feet, 8 inches and an interior height of over 26 feet. But that igloo was constructed around a large inflated balloon, which was removed after the snow had hardened around it.

In the meantime, it's a fulfilling hobby.

Mr. Kozlowski said, “I just like it as a creative way to have fun in winter.”

Contact Susan Spencer at susan.spencer@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanSpencerTG.